essie Sleek Stick Review, Photos, Swatches

essie enters the nail wrap arena with their first-ever textured sticker collection. While I love to paint my nails (I find it really relaxing!), I also like the time-saving convenience of polish strips. They’re great for a quick manicure on the fly, and are a lifesaver for those who like nail art, but don’t want to pay hefty salon prices for more comprehensive designs. essie is taking the polish strip a little further, by adding three-dimensional textures and lavish patterns to their collection of new Sleek Sticks.

Essie Sleek Stick in Stickers and Stones

Available in 12 patterns, each strip is UV-cured, allowing the colors and textures to stay looking fresh for as many as 10 days. I’m on my second run of Sleek Sticks, at first trying the pretty peach-pearled “Glam it On”, and yesterday, I applied my favorite—“Stickers and Stones”. Application is pretty simple, too. What’s cool about these, is that the “art” seems like it’s professionally hand-applied. Everywhere I’ve gone in the past 24 hours, there hasn’t been at least one person commenting on how pretty my nails look. Prepare for your hands to receive positive attention!

I truly don’t know if these will last 10 days, as I had to remove my first set after day 4. With my current set, I’m going to stretch it as far as I can take it. If I can even make it to day 7, that will be impressive enough for me. Another thing I like? These remove without acetone! If you take cuticle oil around all of the edges and start to lift, these come off for me without damaging my nails.

How to apply:

Ready your canvas — clean and shape your nails.

Select the correct size sticker strip for each nail noting cuticle shape as well as width.

Press sticker onto the nail, smoothing out any air bubbles, and file off the excess with the provided nail tool or file.

Between sizes? Size up and remove excess sticker by contouring with a cuticle stick.

You’re done! Just wait an hour before getting your hands wet so the stickers have time to adhere to your nails. For easy removal, apply essie’s apricot cuticle oil around the appliqué and simply peel off!

essie‘s tips: Create more depth and shine by applying one coat of essie’s good to go top coat after applying sleek stick
stickers. Or try mixing it up! Paint nails with your favorite essie polish and apply sleek stick stickers as an accent nail.

essie continues to impress me with their ability to be a little more fashion-forward, yet chic at the same time. I never feel like anything from essie seems cheesy or cheap-looking.

Bottom Line…

I’m really impressed with essie’s variety of prints and colors within the Sleek Stick collection, I just wish I had a little more wear with the first print I tried (Glam it On). Perhaps I would have gotten more wear had I used a top coat—but they are all pretty fab regardless! I have to say, this collection is my favorite of all of the nail wrap stickers I’ve personally tried thus far, and that’s saying a lot.

Price & Availability…

An editorial sample was provided by the company and evaluated to determine our opinion of the product in this post. Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding our policies for using editorial samples. This post may contain an affiliate link.

Thanks for stopping by! If you end up trying, please come back and update us!

http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

It’s so hard to choose a favorite pattern!

tamara patton

I have a terrible time of trying to fit my nails….but I like how they look.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509473139 Celine Anne

This is actually my first time reviewing nail strips because I always thought they looked so confusing, but these look so simple and I like a lot of the patterns. Thanks for reviewing, I will be trying out

http://www.facebook.com/maclothier Ann Clothier

I think the best thing and what sets them apart from others, is the ability to remove them without acetone and nail damage. Thanks for the review!

Simone Housen

Perdy! I’m most impressed with the designs! A lot of other nail stickers are so loud. Kinda cheesy or tacky. Something I would have worn in middle school. These are much more adult friendly!

I look forward to checking these out! Thank you for the review, and swatches(?)!

http://twitter.com/Julie_Park jpark0718

stickers and stones is def my fav!!!

Jessica

DO NOT put on a top coat!!! I did this to mine (stickers and stones) and it dried all strange. I think because they are uv cured the top coat didn’t adhere well and it dried all clumpy (and no I did not use a clumpy top coat). These have been on maybe 5 hours and are already peeling off at the tips. I’m not sure how long these will last. I only did the top coat on 2 nails and saw the strange way it was drying and didn’t do that to the others. They look nice from far away but awful up close.

http://twitter.com/oliviajiyeon Olivia Lee

I added Sally Hansen top coat and they immediately got super shrivelled up and wrinkled looking. Did anyone else notice this? I actually dont mind the texture but it was weird

Lily Smith

I bought these yesterday – the sneek-e ones. and i doubt ill ever buy them again if im looking for them to last more then a day.. I put them on at 3oclock yesterday afternoon, and when I wokeup at 8am this morning, half of them were faded off/-.-. very pretty designs though, looked nice for last night I suppose.

http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

Thank you for sharing your experience, Lily!

http://www.facebook.com/KristalA.Miller Kristal Miller

I bought the stickers and stones and hypnotic chrome ones a few weeks back and just today decided to give them a try. Application was a little tricky seeing as how my nail width is pretty thin so getting the right size for that and for my cuticle shape was nearly impossible. Filing the excess was also quite difficult because the strips are so thick that when filing it pulls on the strip part thats on your nail and creates wrinkles. The wrinkles did not come out no matter how much or how long I pressed them and rubbed my nails. Needless to say I was not impressed. I had to peel 4 of them off already because the wrinkles were starting to cause the strip to begin peeling back from the tip of my nails.

http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

oh no!

Guest2

I used cuticle trimmers to trim the strips to fit perfectly. It helps a lot.